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nurse sees media’s anger growing
“unforgiving nature”
“glaring at them like a bull, as if she wanted to do something awful”
“anger of hers won’t die down until someones felt the force of her thunderbolt”
“may she rather show respect for marriages where peace reigns and judge with a shrewd eye the loves of women”
“may i know the blessing of a heart that is not passion slave”
“I cannot look at your anymore my sorrows overwhelm me”
like a bull
a lioness
With a nature more savage than a tuscan scylla
Cancer spreads
Thunderbolt
like a bull
subverted meads on lines into Jason’s
“ah pity me, i long to clap them, to kiss the dear lips of my children”
“you are behaving unjustly” chorus to Jason
“gone is the trust placed in oaths”
“your lack of principle”
“where he should be shoving love he’s proving traitor”
“she has felt the sting of injustice?”
“for there is no justice in the eyes of men”
“jason you set out your arguments skilfully and plausibly”
“you have betrayed your wife and are behaving unjustly”- chorus
Medea has Been “driven without rights into exile”- the chorus
“the spirit of vengeance for your crimes has Been sent by the gods to punish me”
and stubbornness
“to suffer mockery of my enemies i will not tolerate”-stuborness
“Let no one think me a weak and feeble woman”
“to cause you pain”-out of spite
“yes by doing that i shall hurt my husband most”
“but know woman would no greater misery”
“aslong as he suffers greater misery”
“yes in doing this i shall hurt my husband the most”
the gods:
Symbolic purpose:
a force beyond human comprehension
-men are not the rulers and must too be punished for their defiance over oaths
“gods accomplish beyond mans hopes”
“what men expect does not happen; for the unexpected heaven finds a way”
“what keeps a a marriage intact more than anything, when a husband can count on complete support from his wife”
“she seeks to please her husband in all she does”
“husbands plaything”
medea’s protest is in the setting of outside rather than the expected private setting in order to enhance her rebuttal of being labeled a helpless woman and instead an empowered women who is discarding unjust social normalities.
“we women are the most miserable of specimens”
“no more shall we women endure the burden of ill-repute”- their low esteem by the public
“we” “our bodies” “us” “we’d be better off dead” – inclusive language in order to depict medias suffering as the suffering of a whole gender who should share her betrayal, share her misery and thus share her lust for revenge.
“it is just that you should take revenge upon your husband”
“wrong a women in love and nothing on this earth has a heart more murderous”
“its death I want- ambiguous, suicidal? or vengeance? when did it transition?
“angry feelings against your husband”
“i fear you”
“sorceress”
“hot tempered”
“your skill with words”
“foolish woman, and rid me of your troubles”-a woman troubles are insignificant
“you are hatching some evil plan”- in medias nature
he values rational and logical thinking. sees medea’s cries as a minor annoyance/female facade. However the tutor in this case is being naive blinded by his male prejudice that underestimates the power of a wronged woman
she still continues with her laments
“is he so different from the rest of man kind”
how stupid of her
whilst the nurses able to sympathise with her, she fears for medea and what medea is capable of, considering medias anger to be cancerous. her foreshadowing reveals an understanding of the situation at hand which reverses the gender roles.
how naive you are! the sorrows just begging
a good slaves heart shares the pain
I’ve a terrible fear in my heart that uvula come to some harm
“jason you set out your arguments skilfully and plausibly”
“you have betrayed your wife and are behaving unjustly”
“oh never my lady, may you fire at me… the unerring arrow you have poisoned with desire”
“may she rather show respect for marriages where peace reigns and judge with a shrewd eye the loves of women”
“may i know the blessing of a heart that is not passion slave”
“jasons children”- tutor
The fact- shows his Mel arrogance and logic of a man-implying that the facts and logic men cohere by are only such claims that in fact false or fictionalisedGood and beautiful in life-the beauty of women (aswell as all their other expected qualities) is destroyed by their internal ugliness that is almost like a poisonous heart. Also could be interpreted that women take relationships, family, stability and the oikos and Destroy what is good resulting in bitter hatred between the two parties. their hatred is not reasoned, only a symptom of jealousy and being woman that is a force that disrupts the stability of society.Jason hatred perhaps is seemed from the fact that men in society can function quite efficiently by themselves, allowing themselves to feel superior and powerful, boarding the line of a god status that the in-superiors should look up to. But they cannot fully treat women a way they so much want to because they need women for the most crucial part of society; reproduction. This resistance women bring to men achieving full control anger them and thus spurs on their dehumanising and disrespectful behaviour towards women in order to reinforce that they still are the superior species.”there should have been some other means for mankind to reproduce itself, without the need for a female sex; this would rip the world of all its troubles”- here, Jason creates division between the two genders swell as a symbol of what restricts men from reaching full control and power over society.
foolish woman
rid me of my troubles
bundle you out
what is troubling your heart?
can he dared to have done something so shameful?
Good ridiance.. you have my sympathy
“(Medea has a) shrewd mind”-he is complementary of medias intelligence, not fearful
“What a perverse creature I am!”
“A woman is a soft creature made of weeping”
“show them some pity, you are also a father”
his pride blinds him from what was most sensible because he doesn’t want to be seen in the light of a
medea’s hesitation-motherhood and the chorus disgust:
Medea is initially repulsed by her own vicious thoughts and she expresses her love towards her children like any other mother does through the tenderness of her words:
“oh how id love to hug them, the softness of their skin, the sweetness of their breath, my darling ones”
“my sorrows overwhelm me”
“spill their blood”
“come my heart, put on your armour?”- however she knows she too will be a casualty in her fallicide
“wretched woman, so you are made of rock and iron”
Medea likened to a rock:
Initially in the prologues the nurse connects medea to a “rock or a wave of the sea”, capturing medea passiveness and her just existing-not functioning. the second time she is compared to a rock the chorus give her a portrayal as a coldhearted monster that is a cause of violence, reversing the role of medea and thus the role a female has the capability to transform into to.
“why do you surrender to this anger that crushes your heart, why this lust for blood?”- the chorus
of gender roles
Euripides clearly portrays feminine gender roles, especially marriage, in a sympathetic manner. he recognises that i can be limiting, oppressive and hypocritical burden to endure for women in societyEuripides bemoans the extent to which women are forced by society to place such considerable parts of their identity into something that can be wilfully trashed by men without consequenceIt is hypocritical for men to control to dominate the moral views and values of others when they’re incapable of maintaining these standards themselves.
the nurses high modality as indicated by her declaration that medea ** emphasises her utter devotion to Jason. here, Euripides intensifies the obedience a wife must have in ancient greek society and further project the imbalance of power between man and wife that could potentially evoke women to destabilise the Oikos.
“Better to have formed the habit of living on equal terms with your neighbours. Certainly what i want for myself is to grow old in secure and modest circumstances. for moderation in the first place sounds more attractive on the tongue and in practise is by far best for a man.”
Secure and modest- multiplications of safety and an implied message of living by moderation will avoid troublesome.
attractive on the tongue: moderation is a quality men desired to be seen with and it is a good quality to posses however living a equal and modest life is never enough for those who greed; men.
by far best for a man- living by moderation will allow a more fair society and constrain men from becoming overbearing and arrogant such as thinking they are the most powerful force in society (almost god like) that could bring strife from the gods. Whilst men consider to be on equal footing with each other, they believe they have achieved sophrosyne. However women of all of Greece are belittled and are forced to be devoted to pleasing their husbands, pampering them with their wants and needs, thus distorting the idealistic proportionate and modest society as it is only a facade and quite contradictory.
“royal blood have frightening natures”, here Euripides depicts that those who carry themselves above all society to posses arrogance and will inevitably fall to a troublesome fate whilst those who live by moderation will remain safe and stabilised.
Even the messenger comments; “I would not hesitate to say that those who pass for thinkers on this earth, for men of subtle reasoning, are guilty of being the greatest fools”- life in moderation and limited pride and reason is best
Jason cries:
Euripides postulates that once Jason anger diminishes into grief and sorrow, perhaps he will reflect upon what has happened and he can dissect his own faults and realise what cost the lives of his children was his unjustly behaviour, he sent himself to his own doom.
The gods bring disorder upon Jason as he defied moderation, discarding his oaths, loyalty and placing himself superior to others. the idealistic society Jason so greatly adored and relied on has turned its back on him.
Men may think they control society, the in superior gender, rules, what oaths can be valued and what oaths can be neglected but the gods find a way to corrupt those customs destabilising the society athenian men so heavily worshipped.
“echoed to the sound of constant running”
“Terrible cry of pain”
the nurse;
Hatch- she is so barbaric her twisted schemes come naturalthe qualities that make idea a barbarian in this society is her passionate rage upon those who she should tries and care for. her manipulative mind, her twisted scheming that would be so foreign in this society. her savageness and strength that is so foreign for a woman to posses.
the nurses language is fearful and foreshadowing as she can sense medea’s nature manipulating all that are too ‘civilised’ to foresee her plans.
in the first place, instead of an uncivilised country, your dwelling is now the land of greece, where you have come to know justice and the use of law, instead of being subjected to force
medeas perception of being civilised is living where you were born where you are native too. that is how civilisation is granted. However Jason raises his own society on such a higher footing, he sees any other land being barbaric and entering his own advanced society would be a blessing.
Medea feels held hostage in a society that only shames her and degrades her giving her no rights, freedom or even the respect of a upholding an oath.
Jasons pride for his civilisation that grants men the benefits of democracy blinds him of seeing the fatal flaws of his society; inequality, lack of sophrosyne and their obsession of superiority over other lands.
their selective values of oaths neglecting the ones that are not in favour of their way of life, thus disrespecting the gods.
their coldness and lack of compassion relating in a lack of humanity towards othersmedeas likening to her oppressed homesickness to a “misery beyond all other” intensifies her victimisation at the hands of an ignorant society. the noun “misery” underscores her despair, evoking an image of utter degradation and oppression, which challenges the idea that greek society was blessed with pride, justice and an idealistic perception of living. here Euripides intends to disrupt the image of ‘civilisation’ and instead question how pride of athenian citizens have clouded their fatal flaws that specifically detriment the wellbeing of women.
Jasons just gives up his marriage for his own prosperity, disposing medea like she was nothing but a obstacle in his way. Jason’s crimes are possibly worsened by his neglecting of medea, as he doesn’t acknowledges he truth of his wrong doing, as society aligns with his actions with no law preventing him from doing so. the chorus feels that medea was driven to her actions by Jason’s ‘lawless’ behaviour.
“what a fool i was before, when i brought you from that house of yours in a barbarous land to a home in greece, a deadly passenger who had betrayed your father and the country that reared you. the spirit of vengeance of your crimes has been sent by the gods to punish me”
Jason emphasises the evil, barbarian qualities in medea; however, Euripides explores how it is in fact her dispossession in a ‘civilized’ land that leads her to violence.’
“sorceress”
The use of figurative language (similes, metaphors) in writing
Dramatic irony (when the audiences sees whats really happening but the characters do not)
Imagery
compelling, rigid, dishonoured
medea gradually turns herself from a victim to a victor.
the play refuses to present her as a monster because if it did, the audience would distance themselves from her
once a legendary hero, jason stinks to human proportions when his own decisions lead to his ruin.
although initial urging medea to trust the wisdom of zeus, their empathy for the unjust treatment of women leads to their complicity
sees events and characters clearly and acts as the audiences initial guide to the play.the nurse is loyal to the Okies of jason and medea, but this stands only while there is no dispute between the husband and wife expresses a desire for a simple life of humble equality
believing self-intreat will always triumph, the tutor has little hope or belief that people will ever learn from their errors
“no one loves his neighbour more than himself”
aegeus is an aspirational figure for the athenian audience;
he expresses the great value of children and demonstrates respect and compassion towards the female foreigner, medea.
transitioning from an exiling ruler to loving, self- sacrificing father, croon is humanised by Euripides
the messenger describes his death:”he tore the withered flesh from his own bones”
id we learn the lessons associated with their destruction, they protect other children from destruction.
“we need your help”
Euripides’ Medea – Plot Summary
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